Shooting to become the first Senior A squad since 1996 to win back-to-back national titles, the Bentley Generals were stonewalled by the host Fort St. John Flyers in Saturday’s Allan Cup final.

Goalie Clayton Pool, whose resume includes stints with the Kamloops Blazers, Kootenay Ice and University of Alberta Golden Bears, stopped 24 shots and former Grande Prairie Storm forward Ryan Carter scored a crucial insurance goal with less than three minutes remaining in the final period to lead the Flyers to a 4-1 victory at North Peace Arena.

“To get here two years in a row is incredible. Unfortunately, we didn’t finish the job,” said Generals head coach Brian Sutter, a former Flames bench boss and member of Viking’s famed hockey family.

“I’m still really proud. We had to earn the right to get here all year. Our goal for ourselves is to never beat ourselves, and you can count on one hand with a couple fingers cut off the amount of games we lost all year.

“Tonight, we just never created enough. We didn’t have enough gas in the tank.”

Todd Alexander and Chris Stevens also had goals for the Flyers, while Rod Stevens added an empty-netter to seal the deal.

Scott Hood had the only tally for the Generals, a squad that features onetime Flames winger Travis Brigley and a pair of other former NHLers in forward Darryl LaPlante and defenceman Darren Van Impe.

The Flyers also knocked off the Generals in the Allan Cup round-robin opener, earning a bye through the quarterfinal round while Sutter’s squad hit the ice four times in as many nights.

“There’s no NHL team that could do that and get by,” Sutter said. “We lost the first game of the tournament, so we were forced to play every night — that’s the way she works. I don’t feel sorry for ourselves or anything.

“But we had a great group of people and a great organization to get this far.”